


More to Life than This

by trashassassin



Series: Torn [1]
Category: DmC: Devil May Cry
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Office, Canon Rewrite, Drinking, Eventual Romance, F/M, I Don't Even Know, Mystery, Restaurants, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:28:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28571523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashassassin/pseuds/trashassassin
Summary: It all begins when a mysterious new coworker joins your ranks and suddenly, you begin to realize that your life is not quite what what it seems.
Relationships: Vergil (DmC)/Reader
Series: Torn [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2093460
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	1. Routine

**Author's Note:**

> Listen, y'all, I can explain myself. So, there I was, BBQ sauce on my titties, making an informed decision to play the dmc reboot with the full expectation that I would hate every second of it. And I did, for the most part, at least as far as the story was concerned. But then, I got an idea. Initially, this idea started off as a joke. I was going to write an April Fool's oneshot staring reboot Vergil and then we could all go about our merry way. And then, I got more ideas, and more, and more. Before I knew it, I had a concept for an entire three part series on my hands. This is basically the fanfiction equivalent of that google search suggestion that's like, "help I accidentally built a shelf," except the shelf is my attempt to rescue these characters from the terrible writing.
> 
> All that being said, I hope y'all like the intro chapter. It's mostly just worldbuilding for now, but if the concept seems interesting, strap tf in, cause you're in for a wild ride. I don't even know how this happened. Please send help.

As your alarm went off, you barely even recognized the sound. It was so perfectly integrated into the dream you were having that, had it stopped of its own accord as you so often wished it would, it was likely that you would have slept right through it.

You sat upright and felt around for your phone a bit, which was lost somewhere in your blankets, before you finally managed to find it and switch it off. And so, another day had begun, virtually indistinct from any other day you'd had in recent memory.

You supposed that there was something oddly comforting about the mundane routine you'd fallen into. You woke up at the same exact time each day, save for the rare occasions when you happened to sleep in, to the pitch dark surroundings of your room. You then shambled down the hall on the familiar route to your bathroom in order to get ready, or at least make your best attempt to, through your squinted, blurry eyes which always took a bit of time to adjust to the harsh bathroom lights.

Once you'd managed to get yourself into a presentable state, you prepared yourself the quickest and easiest food you had available, usually a bowl of oatmeal, along with a pot of coffee, which you would drink most of with your breakfast, and then take the rest of along with you in your old, scratched thermos.

But, before you began to prepare your breakfast, you always liked to switch on the television, if for no other purpose than to have a bit of background noise in your otherwise silent apartment while you cooked.

It always defaulted to the channel four news, so you were at least up-to-date on the most recent local events, as well as what sort of weather and traffic conditions you could expect on your morning commute. The news reports typically focused on mundane daily happenings, such as traffic accidents, school closings, and updates on local policy decisions. Recently, however, there had been a bit of a worrying trend emerging amongst the daily reports; an unusual number of suspicious deaths had been occurring in or around the part of the city in which you lived.

A good number of them were somewhat notable figures, such as local music artists, news reporters, and even a man who had been speaking about running for mayor shortly before his death. There was much speculation surrounding a potential serial killer, but thus far, law enforcement had not managed to find any leads, nor could they uncover any common threads amongst the victims.

You supposed this should have concerned you, that you should have had any other response to the events other than the mild disinterest with which you regarded almost everything else in your life. At this point, hearing another suspicious death announced on the news had simply become an additional part of your routine. Today, you were informed that there had been yet another one: a well-liked businessman who had lived in one of the richer neighborhoods about twenty minutes away from you. His family gave the typical story: he had no enemies and, by extension, no one who could have possibly wished to do him harm, so they had absolutely no idea how such a terrible thing could have happened to him.

Somehow, you always found this tired tale a bit hard to believe.

You had already forgotten the man's name as you switched off the television before you went to leave for the day. You had never heard of him or his company before and it was likely that you never would again, so, you had to admit, in spite of the inherent tragedy, his story mattered very little to you.

Though, it did concern you somewhat that this most recent death had taken place so close to where you lived. The apparent randomness of the attacks had you a bit concerned for your own safety, even if you refused to admit it out loud. This was the most crime your area had seen in a very long time, if the individuals in question were, in fact, being murdered, and so, you had never had a reason to feel unsafe until now.

But, you never allowed this creeping anxiety to bother you too much. You were hardly a well known figure and you always assumed, perhaps foolishly so, that this fact made you an unlikely target for another attack.

The same, however, could not be said for your boss and the head of your company, Ms. Angeline.

She was a fairly well-known app developer, who was in charge of quite a few different projects, but was best known for a basic lifestyle app, which was able to track various information about the user, such as how they were feeling that day or where they'd been, based on self-reporting. You supposed that its simplicity was part of its mass appeal, but you still couldn't help but be a bit surprised every time you saw the actual user data attached to it.

Due to its notoriety, it had gained a bit of attention over the years from those who liked to accuse the company itself, Bounce Entertainment, of spying on its users and collecting their information with nefarious purposes in mind. But, seeing as you were privy to almost all of the inside information as Ms. Angeline's personal assistant, you knew better than anyone else that claims like these were nothing more than speculation. You always thought of the app as a sort of repackaged notepad in which users could jot down any random thoughts, feelings, or experiences they had throughout the day. You couldn't imagine how information as mundane as that could ever be of use to anyone outside of the person who'd written it.

Regardless of how obvious this was to you, it wasn't obvious to the senders of the numerous emails you had to reply to on a daily basis who seemed entirely convinced to the contrary.

This too had become part of your routine: helping to maintain the company's image by dispelling any rumors or falsehoods people were attempting to spread regarding it. That was one of the first things you did every morning as you stepped into the office.

The building in which you worked was so old that it didn't even have an elevator installed, so you had to make the trek up and down the stairs to and from the seventh floor every single time you entered or left. You never had much to carry, so the walk wasn't terribly difficult, but you always had to wonder why the company hadn't chosen to move into a larger, more suitable building once it had grown. Every time you attempted to ask about this, you were told something about how it was better for the company financially to remain in the building you were in now, so you accepted this and eventually gave up on seeking a more inclusive explanation.

Although you had initially expected today to be like any other day, you had to admit that you were a bit surprised by the fact that you had seen a car you didn't recognize sitting in the parking lot when you pulled in. 

It was a sleek, black sports car, the make and model of which you were unable to recognize right off the top of your head, and was definitely atypical in comparison to the cars surrounding it. And, most importantly, its owner had very rudely taken your usual parking space, causing you to have to take one of the only remaining spots all the way on the other side of the lot.

Still, the more you thought about it, you realized that you couldn't remember the last time you'd had a new employee join your ranks and you were a bit curious to meet whoever this was.

You made your way across the parking lot and into the rear entrance of the building, then began your usual trek up the stairs to your floor.

In spite of the age of the building itself, your workspace was set up in a more modern open office design, which gave it a casual atmosphere, which you appreciated. You had always had a distaste for the typical office environment as it caused you to feel too caged in, but here, you were able to get up and stretch your legs pretty much whenever you felt the need to, even if this took the form of doing a couple of laps around the rows of desks or wandering down a random hallway and back again.

Ms. Angeline never seemed to mind this. She herself took frequent breaks throughout the day, as she always spoke of the creeping effects of spending all day seated at a desk and wished to counteract them in any way that she could.

All things considered, she wasn't as bad to work for as she could have been. She at least seemed to take a passing interest in your well being and did her best to see that you were not overworked.

As such, you couldn't complain too much about your daily duties as her assistant, the first of which was always to fetch her a cup of coffee from the break room along with whatever baked good happened to be available that day. You said good morning to her, then set your things down by your desk and went to do just that.

As you reached the break room, you found there was already someone else in there, leaning over the coffee maker as though they were struggling to figure out how to make it work.

"Good morning," you said.

Upon them turning around, you realized that you did not recognize the person who was standing before you, so it was very likely that they were the one whose car you had seen in the parking lot.

It was a man, in his mid-twenties to early thirties, if your questionable judge of age was anything to go by, dressed in a traditional three-piece suit which was quite unlike the usual business casual attire worn by your fellow coworkers.

He studied you for a second, then said, "Good morning. I don't believe we've met before. My name is Vergil Sparda."

Now it was your turn to study him. That was certainly an unusual name and you questioned for a second whether or not it was an alias he was using for whatever reason, or perhaps a nickname he preferred to go by.

You questioned this for an uncomfortable amount of time before you finally gave him your name in return and reached out to shake his hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," he said.

"Were you planning on making some coffee?" you asked.

He once again began to stare at you, a look coming over his face as though you'd caught him doing something he shouldn't have been.

"Yes," he said. "Would you like some?"

"I already have some," you said. "I just came to get some for Ms. Angeline before we get started." You were met with another dumbfounded look, so you clarified: "My boss. I'm her assistant."

"Oh, I see," he said. "I was unaware that she had an assistant."

"Well, she does." You were beginning to get a very weird vibe from this guy and wanted nothing more than to grab the coffee and get out as quickly as possible. "You seem to be having a little trouble with the coffee maker over there, so if you don't mind-"

"No," he interrupted. "It's all yours."

With that, he pushed past you and made his way back out into the office area, leaving you alone to wonder whether the interaction you'd just had had truly been that weird or if you still hadn't completely woken up yet. As you prepared the coffee maker to begin brewing, you came to the conclusion that, yes, it truly had been that weird and you weren't sure what to make of it or of your new coworker.

This had definitely not been an ideal first impression for someone that you would be stuck seeing every weekday for the foreseeable future. You supposed that it was possible that he was just a bit awkward and you had caught him off guard by coming up on him so suddenly, but you couldn't help but feel that there was more to it than that.

You resolved that you would keep an eye on him until you could figure out what his deal was, if for no other reason than to give yourself some peace of mind.

But for now, you returned your attention to the coffee, which you poured into a mug you'd grabbed from the cupboard, then proceeded to pour two creams and a packet of sweetener into, just the way Ms. Angeline liked it.

As you returned to your desk and handed it to her, she thanked you, then gave you a knowing look.

"You met Vergil, didn't you?" she said.

"Yeah," you replied. "He's new, right?"

"Yes. He just completed his preliminary training this past week. He's a bit of a strange one, but I have to admit, he really knows his stuff. I almost didn't hire him because his interview left quite a bit to be desired."

You scoffed.

"He must be pretty good, then," you said.

"One of the best," said Ms. Angeline. "I would have been a fool to pass him up on account of that alone." She paused. "Let us hope I did not make the wrong decision."

You got the impression that she was speaking more to herself than to you.

"Anyhow," she continued. "Before I forget again, I must inform you that I'm headed away to a business conference next week and will need you to take over in my absence during this time."

You turned to look at her, once again unsure if you'd misinterpreted the situation as what she'd said began to sink in.

"Take over?" you asked. "As head of the company, you mean?"

"Yes," she replied. "You've proven yourself to be more than up to the task."

You weren't sure how she had managed to get this impression from the duties you had handled thus far. A majority of them were quite far beneath her level, the most taxing thing required of you at present being occasionally filling out paperwork when she was too busy to do so before a deadline hit.

Your mouth went dry as the full extent of what was looming overhead began to dawn on you.

"When will you be coming back?" you asked.

"At the end of next month. But, I will be only an email away if you run into any major difficulties."

"Are you sure?" you asked.

"You are the most qualified person in the room for the job," she said. "I would not trust anyone else to bear this responsibility."

You wracked your brain for what you should say in response, eventually managing to settle on a simple, "thanks."

"Of course," she said. "You've earned this."

You returned your focus to your work with an equal amount of pride and apprehension warring inside you. You were only around an hour into the day and it had already managed to take quite a few unexpected turns. Even if you did find the implications of the conversation you'd just had quite intimidating, on some level, you were quite excited to see where this new opportunity would lead you.


	2. A Change of Pace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You begin your training for your new, temporary position as head of the local branch of your company.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What the heck, y'all? I was seriously expecting absolutely nothing for this one, but you guys have blown me away again. The feedback is very much appreciated, as always!
> 
> In this chapter, our second OC makes an appearance. I was originally toying with the idea of putting Kat in this role to keep with the whole rewrite theme, but eventually decided that doing so would mess up some very important stuff for later. ;) No spoilers here. Not much more to say about this one. You guys are the absolute best, as always.

You spent the majority of your work day paying a great deal more attention to Ms. Angeline's daily activities than you ever had before. Usually, you could not have cared less about the mundane tasks she occupied herself with—typically answering calls from irritated investors and doing calculations as she filled a seemingly endless quantity of spreadsheets—but today was different. If you were going to make things work as her replacement, you were at least going to have to pretend to care about the inner workings of the company.

By the time lunch rolled around, you were thoroughly exhausted due to all of the information you had been attempting, with varying degrees of success, to shovel into your brain, so you wanted nothing more than to finally kick back and relax, even if only temporarily.

As you were in the midst of eating, your attention focused on the mindless videos you'd pulled up on your computer, you noticed someone approaching your desk out of the corner of your eye. When you looked up, your heart sank.

It was Vergil.

You supposed it was a bit unfair of you to have such an instantly negative reaction to his presence, but after the awkward encounter you'd had earlier in the day, you were dreading having another.

His eyes met yours and, after another uncomfortably long silence, he finally spoke.

"Hello," he said. "Or, should I say, hello again?"

"What do you want?" you asked, your voice muffled by the bite of sandwich you'd shoved into your mouth moments earlier.

You had the urge to tell him to go away, but you held your tongue for now. It appeared that he was at least attempting to smooth things over a bit and you were going to hear him out.

He cleared his throat.

"I've come to apologize for the way I acted earlier," he continued. "I realize now that I may have come off as a bit rude and, I want to assure you that this wasn't my intention."

"Water under the bridge," you said and, as you thought about it more, you realized that you truly did mean it.

It was common for people to not have their wits about them first thing in the morning, yourself included, so you supposed that perhaps his earlier behavior had simply been a fluke.

"This is my first time working in an environment like this and I must admit, I'm having a bit of a difficult time adjusting," he said.

"I get that," you said. "It was like that for me too when I first started."

You had been doing mostly overnight work that required very little human interaction while you were finishing up your degree, so the adjustment period had been similar for you when you had to go back to working during the daytime.

"Well, I won't keep you," he said. "See you around."

"See ya."

So, it would seem that he wasn't one to linger, as some of your other coworkers tended to do, and you had to appreciate him for that. Your lunch break was one of the few moments of your workday that you had completely to yourself, seeing as Ms. Angeline nearly always left the office for lunch, so the less interruptions you had during this time, the better.

But, it never lasted as long as you would have liked, the end of your brief reprieve always marked by the sound of Ms. Angeline's heels clicking up the stairs on her way back from wherever she had been, typically the small deli across the street.

"Alright then," she said as she sat back into the desk beside you. "I trust you've been keeping up so far."

"As well as I can be," you said.

She gave you a smile and it was impossible to tell whether it was genuine or not.

"Now, there is one very important thing that you must remember to do at the end of each week," she continued.

"And, what's that?" you asked.

"As head of this branch of the company, I am required to call the CEO to report on the app's performance, as well as sending him an email with more detailed reports on data usage."

You blinked at her a few times.

"Why?" you asked. "He's the CEO. Doesn't he have access to this information already?"

"You see, he is a very busy man, and as such, does not really have the time to deal with the more fiddly aspects of his business. That is outsourced to each of the branches that exist throughout the country."

You wanted to protest again, to ask why he didn't simply have his own employees available to compile this information, but you were able to recognize one of Ms. Angeline's non-answers from a mile away, and this was definitely one of them. It occurred to you that it was possible that even she didn't hold the correct answer.

"I see," you said.

She reached into one of the drawers beneath her desk and grabbed a sheet of paper from it, which she shoved in your direction.

"Here is his contact information," she said. "And please, try your best to refrain from bothering him with any of your more frivolous concerns. As I said, I'll be only an email away. Only contact him in regards to the briefings, if you can help it."

You gave the paper she had given you a brief glance before folding it up and placing it into one of your folders.

"I'll keep that in mind," you said.

The higher ups were difficult to deal with at the best of times, so you weren't about to argue against an actual excuse to avoid them even more than you already did.

"Other than that, you should have most of the basics down," Ms. Angeline said. "You already handle the emails, so taking customer complaints over the phone is just a slight step up from that."

You grimaced. You had never really had to do it before, but you were sure that hearing people yell at you over the phone in real time would be quite a different experience to answering their angry emails at your convenience. And now that Ms. Angeline was about to step out, you would be charged with handling both at the same time.

"Do you have any questions for me so far?" she asked.

"Not yet," you replied.

"Good." She smiled again, this time looking much more convincing. "Like I said, you're the only one around here I actually trust to do the job. Anyhow." She stood up from her desk. "I'll be right back. I have to fetch the papers I sent to the printer."

As soon as she stepped away, you took your phone out from its place tucked into your purse and began to compose a text message to your best friend, Kelly.

_You're talking to the new head of Bounce Entertainment,_ you typed. _For the next month anyway :P I'm only filling in and I'm already in all the way over my head._

You pressed the send button and Ms. Angeline appeared a few moments later with a large stack of papers in hand.

"I'm going to need you to file these," she said. "It shouldn't take too long."

Just by glancing at it, you could tell that it would take you at least an hour to make it through them all, but you supposed anything was better than having to keep hovering over her shoulder, hanging on to every word she said as though your life depended on it.

"I'll get right to it," you said, as you typically did when presented with work of this sort.

Just as you had gotten settled in to start, your phone buzzed, alerting you to the fact that Kelly had replied to your message.

It read, _Congratulations! Drinks tonight to celebrate?_

You smiled. That sounded like exactly what you needed after the exhausting day you were having.

_Sure!_ you replied. _I'll be there after work._

_No staying late tonight. Promise?_ she said.

You briefly wondered if you would be able to commit to this and decided that yes, you could. It was time for you to finally start saying no for once, in the event that Ms. Angeline actually asked you to stay in order to continue working on your training.

_Promise_ , you said.

You then took a portion of the papers from the stack and got to work.

* * *

As you began to pack up your things to leave for the day, you saw Ms. Angeline approaching your desk from the corner of your eye and you braced yourself for her to begin the process of guilt tripping you into staying after hours. She already had another fake smile plastered on her face when you looked up at her. 

"I really appreciate your willingness to step up like that," she said.

"It really is no big deal," you said.

"Good," she said. "I think you'll find that there's really not much to it once you start to get the hang of it. We will continue your training first thing tomorrow. There's a lot to cover and next week will arrive before we know it, so we must stay focused."

"So, you don't need me to stay, then?" you asked.

The question came mostly out of habit, and out of the fact that guilt would eat away at the back of your mind if you didn't at least attempt to offer more of your time.

"Not tonight," she said. "I need you to be sharp and the only way you can achieve that is through a good night's rest."

"Right," you said. "Thank you."

"Of course. Have a good night."

"You, too."

With that, she walked away from your desk and headed toward the main door.

Your mind was still buzzing from everything that had happened. Your day definitely hadn't ended up being as typical as you had expected and you had to admit that, in spite of your outward appearance of confidence, you were still a bit unsure of whether you were properly qualified for your new duties.

But, you would soon be able to put it out of your mind, at least for the duration of your hangout with Kelly, and the drinks she had promised would only serve to accelerate this process.

You considered stopping home first to change into more comfortable clothes, but ultimately decided that it wasn't worth the trip seeing as Kelly lived a fair distance away from your neighborhood. Her tiny apartment was situated in downtown Limbo City, as opposed to the more suburban area that you lived in, which was another part of the reason the two of you hung out so infrequently. She lived a little over an hour away, so any time either of you wanted to visit the other, there was usually a great deal of planning and coordination that needed to happen.

The two of you were stuck in a bit of a stalemate: you refused to move closer due to your current apartment's proximity to your workplace and she refused due to her undying love of the city landscape. And so, you resigned yourself to the fact that you would keep having to make the long drive until either of these circumstances changed or you somehow figured out a way to meet in the middle.

By the time you finally arrived, it was nearly nine o'clock in the evening and there were very few parking spots available outside of her complex, causing you to have to squeeze very carefully between an obnoxiously large pickup truck and a sedan that appeared to be on the verge of falling apart if you happened to look at it too intensely.

Once you had managed to do this without any major harm coming to either yourself or any of the vehicles involved, you stepped out onto the sidewalk and made your way down the small flight of stairs that led directly to Kelly's apartment.

You'd had quite a bit of trouble finding it the first time she'd invited you over after she moved in because it wasn't at all visible from the street, devoid of any identifying markers that indicated there was anything aside from a storage unit, or perhaps an abandoned portion of the building, down there at all.

You had to admit that it did look a bit like a refurbished garage on the inside, but that was part of why Kelly was so fond of it. She just couldn't stand the polished look of the buildings in your area, a fact that she took every opportunity she could to remind you of.

You knocked on her door and it was only a few seconds before she came to answer it.

"Hi!" she said. She hugged you with her free arm, the other of which she had wrapped around a full laundry basket. "Give me just one second. I figured I would tidy up a little before you came."

"Take your time," you said.

Kelly's place was quite small, even for a studio apartment, but it was almost always well organized, even at its worst. There was a place for everything on top of the shelves that lined the wall and the number of small pieces of furniture scattered about. Things may have gotten a bit messy from time to time, but you could not recall a time when you would have described her surroundings as "cluttered," even at their worst.

You took a seat on the couch, facing the back so that Kelly was in sight as she began to hang up her clothes onto the rack that stood beside her bed.

You had always agreed that the city suited her, even if you often wished that she could be closer, and you were reminded of this as you watched her hang up her clothes, which were in an impressive array of colors and styles. Along with her spiky pink hair, you had to admit that she would definitely stand out like a sore thumb amongst your neighbors.

"So," she said, drawing out the word as she spoke. "How was work? You didn't break your promise, did you?"

You chuckled.

"No, I didn't," you said.

"Good. You're learning."

She turned to you and smiled.

"It was exhausting," you said. "Ms. Angeline forced me to watch her every move."

"That sounds very boring."

"Oh, it was, believe me." You rolled your eyes. "But I guess it's better than the alternative."

"Which is?"

"Showing up completely unprepared and getting fired," you clarified. "I don't know if I'm cut out for this shit. I'm grateful for the opportunity, of course, but I feel like I'm in way over my head here."

"I'm sure you'll do just fine," Kelly assured you. "You've been there how long now?"

"Three years," you replied.

You winced as you recalled the number. Had it really been that long already?

"Then, you have nothing to worry about," said Kelly. "Just let your experience guide you. I can't imagine there's a bunch of new stuff you have to learn at this point."

"Not really," you replied. "The biggest thing I'm gonna have to work on is not snapping at people over the phone."

"I can help with that. I worked in a call center for way too long, remember."

"And then got fired for calling a customer a fuckhead."

The two of you shared a laugh at the memory.

"Well, yes," she said. "But I made it almost exactly two years until that point, so I still have a few tricks up my sleeve."

You remained doubtful, but supposed that you should take any help or advice you could get at this point.

"Alright, I'll bite," you said.

"What else do you have to do?" she asked.

"Lots of paperwork, mostly, keeping track of sales and data, that kind of stuff. And I've been specifically instructed to call the CEO once a week and report my findings, or whatever."

"Is he in your building?"

"No. He's up at the headquarters in the Capitol."

Kelly turned to you with a cheeky smile on her face.

"The Capitol, you say?" she said.

"Yes," you replied. "What are you getting at?"

"I'm just saying, if you keep rising in the ranks, they might ship you out there, and then we could finally get a place together!"

You cocked an eyebrow at her.

"So, that's your condition for compromise?" you asked.

"I've always wanted to live there," she said.

"Forget about it," you said. "The average rent costs more than my monthly salary."

"Your _current_ salary," she corrected. "I'm sure you'd be making a lot more if you were a Capitol bigshot."

You shrugged.

"Maybe," you said. "But, let's not put the cart before the horse, shall we?"

"You're right," she said. "I guess I got a little ahead of myself, huh?"

You scoffed.

"No more than usual," you said.

"Now, enough about work," Kelly said. "Let's get some drinks!"

She set the now empty laundry basket beside the clothes rack and walked over to the makeshift bar she'd set up on one of the few available kitchen counters.

"What would you like?" she asked.

"Whatever you're having," you replied.

You weren't picky, nor did you know much about drinks to begin with.

"You got it!" she said. "Two dark and stormies coming right up."

She took a moment to mix everything up in her cocktail shaker, then poured its contents into two mugs and came to sit beside you on the couch, handing you the larger of the two.

"To your promotion," she said, raising her mug toward you. "Temporary as it may be."

"Yes," you said as you brought your mug up to meet hers. "To my only hint of advancement in the past three years I've been there."

She laughed and you each took a sip of your drink.

As unrealistic as it seemed, what she'd said had gotten you thinking. In the event that you were offered a job at the headquarters, would you actually be willing to take it? You would have to uproot your entire life for such a thing, moving to an unfamiliar city, with a near guarantee that you would be saddled with much more responsibility than you currently held.

Still, you continued to think it over as you sipped your drink. Perhaps if you were able to prove to yourself that you could handle Ms. Angeline's position, you could finally begin to give the idea some serious thought.


	3. Center of Attention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You attempt to step out of your comfort zone in the hopes that it will help you make progress in your career.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a minute, y'all. So, I had this random burst of inspiration and banged out two chapters in rapid succession, then sat on them for ages and ages because whyyyyyyyyyyy not? I originally intended for this one to be more of a side project, but I just can't bring myself to work on some of my more emotionally heavy works in These Unprecedented Times, so enjoy more office shenanigans instead. \'u'/ Obligatory sorry for the infrequent updates, yada yada yada. A bitch has a full time job and shit gets kinda crazy sometimes. Now that that's out of the way, I hope you guys are enjoying the setup so far. More very spooky mysteries to come.

You followed your better judgement, consuming only two drinks, seeing as you knew you would have to wake up early in order to make the long drive back from Kelly's house so that you could make it to work on time.

You awoke the following morning way earlier than she did, before the sun was even up, against your body's ample protests as you dragged it back up to your car.

You had not originally intended to spend the night at her place, but by the time the two of you had finished catching up, it was just past one AM you were far too tired to head back home. Today was going to be a struggle and you had no one to blame but yourself for that.

But, you managed to make it through, powered only by the three cups of coffee you had consumed along with the stubborn drive to get your training over with as quickly as possible.

And you had made some good progress, at least as far as you could tell. Next on the agenda was to have you sit in on the following day's conference meeting, which you couldn't say you were looking forward to, but at least, if you actually managed to get enough rest for once, you wouldn't be in danger of dozing off in the middle of it.

As you were preparing to leave for the day, more than ready to head home and finally relax, you felt a pair of eyes watching you from somewhere over your shoulder. You waited a few moments to see if the feeling would pass and, when it didn't, you turned and noticed one of your coworkers watching you, a grin coming over her face as she made her way over toward you.

She was known to you, and everyone else around the office, only as Red, a nickname granted to her due to her short, fiery red hair, which she insisted was natural in spite of ample evidence to the contrary.

You had barely ever spoken to her outside of your initial introduction, especially since you had been hired on as a secretary while she worked primarily in graphic design. Still, you knew that there were only two occasions in which Red would go out of her way to speak to you: to share the latest gossip that she had managed to overhear during her lunch hour or in an effort to convince you to attend an after work outing. You were able to use the process of elimination to take your best guess at which of these were on her mind as she approached you.

"Heya!" she said.

"Hi," you said.

You attempted to sound as disinterested as possible and kept your focus on your things as you packed them away, but this did nothing to dissuade her.

"So, I know you're not usually into stuff like this," she said. "But, there's this amazing new restaurant that opened up down the street and I think you'll really like it."

You were about to protest, proclaiming that there was no way she could know what you liked, as she knew nothing about you, but then something Kelly had said the previous night popped back into your head.

You had been lamenting your seeming inability to climb the corporate ladder, as you so often did, when she raised a possible solution. Perhaps, it was not bad luck, as you had previously thought, but rather your consistent refusal to network that was at fault.

_ "It's not so much about what you know, but rather, who you know," she had said. "You can be the best in your field, but that means jack shit if no one is around to see it." _

And so, you held your tongue. The worst that could happen was you would lose a few hours to pointless small talk, but at least you would come out of it with a meal and possibly, some new connections.

"Fine," you said.

Her smile grew wider.

"Awesome!" she said. "Give me your number and I'll text you the address."

You hesitated again. You never liked the idea of anyone outside of the realm of your superiors having the ability to contact you outside of work, but you swallowed this down as well, still attempting to convince yourself that this would be good for your career as you grabbed a sticky note from your desk and jotted your number down onto it.

"Alright!" she said as she took it. "See ya there!"

You were already regretting all of this as you watched her walk away and it was then that you realized just how probable it was that Kelly was right. You had never made any attempt to get to know your fellow coworkers, or anyone else in your field, so perhaps your continued stagnation  _ was  _ your fault after all, at least partially.

You took a deep breath, then lifted your bags from your desk and made your way outside.

Red had already texted you the address to the restaurant by the time you reached your car. You saved the contact to your phone, then plugged the address into your navigator and began to make your way toward it. It was only about eight minutes down the street, so at least you wouldn't have to waste too much time actually getting there.

The restaurant was difficult to miss given the large sign affixed to the front of the building, the words "The Cellar," illuminated by small lights, bordering the sign on all sides so that it was still visible in the darkness of the late evening.

As soon as you stepped inside, you spotted Red seated on one of the benches near the front, along with a few of your other coworkers.

"Hi!" she called, giving you an enthusiastic wave as soon as her eyes met yours. "This place is pretty popular!"

"I'll say."

You took the only space that was still open, which was at the very end of the bench, near the door.

"They said it would be about thirty minutes," she said, leaning in your direction so that you would be able to hear her.

"I can wait," you said.

It ended up being about twenty minutes from the moment you sat down until the buzzer in Red's hands finally lit up, alerting everyone to the fact that their table was ready.

A young waitress led the group to a very large table in the center of the restaurant, then handed out menus before stepping away to give everyone a chance to decide what they wanted to eat. 

The restaurant was very loud, so loud in fact that everyone had to raise their voices, shouting over each other in an attempt to be heard. You were already beginning to regret coming here, but you were in too deep now. 

You buried your face in the menu, focusing on its words to drown out all the yelling. In spite of your regrets, however, you had to admit that the options in front of you did look pretty appealing. 

"Alright, so we want a round of shrimp skewers to start, yeah?" Red asked, and there were a few scattered mumbles of approval. "Anything else?" 

"Some chicken wings, maybe?" you said, and to your surprise, you were able to make yourself heard on the first try. 

"Alright!" Red called back. "One order of shrimp and one order of chicken wings. Those are on me since this was my idea, but if you guys are getting drinks, you're on your own there." 

There were a few half hearted chuckles before everyone returned to their shouted conversations. 

You thought briefly of ordering one of the many cocktails that were listed on the drink menu, but decided against it. As much as that may have helped you loosen up a bit, you had never felt comfortable with being intoxicated in the presence of near perfect strangers, so you decided instead on an orange flavored sparkling water, then closed your menu and placed it back onto the table. 

As you did, you noticed two more people approaching, the middle aged man who was in charge of quality assurance, or something equally menial, and Vergil.

Somehow, Vergil was the last person you ever would have expected to show up to something like this, even though you didn't know him nearly well enough to make that judgement. 

"Nice of you two to finally join us," Red teased. "That should be everyone." 

The quality assurance guy took the open spot two seats down from Red, while Vergil sat at the very end of the table, quite far removed from everyone else. 

The waitress returned a few moments later and began taking everyone's drink orders, most of which consisted of glasses of wine and the various mixed drinks you had passed on. You almost went back on your promise to yourself, especially when Red offered to buy a round of shots for the table, but you managed to stick to your guns. 

"I should have known you weren't much of a drinker," Red said, and it took a moment for you to realize that she was speaking to you. 

"Oh, yeah," you said. "That was my New Year's resolution." 

Why had you agreed to do this? It was becoming clear that the only opportunity available to you here was to be roped into more outings of this sort in the future. 

"Well, good on you for sticking to that," said Red, and suddenly everyone's eyes were on you. 

You returned your attention to the menu and used it to hide your face, which was growing more flushed by the second.

You would choose a small entrée and have your order ready for when the waitress finally returned with your drinks. 

And she did, to your relief, distributing them around the table with an impressive level of dexterity before asking if anyone was ready to order. 

You gave her your decision, a large salad with chicken, and made yourself another promise, to return here again someday under different circumstances to give it a proper try. 

Just as you began to think you were in the clear, Red stood and tapped lightly on her glass of red wine with her fork. 

"I don't know if the rest of you have heard," she said. "But someone here just got promoted to be the new office head!" 

She used the fork to gesture toward you and everyone turned to look at you again. Even a few of the other customers gave you a passing glance before returning their attention to their own tables. 

"Only for a month," you said. "It's really no big deal."

"It's a super big deal!" said Red. "I know I would kill to be in your shoes!"

You could hear a few agreements rise up from the table and you were honestly a bit surprised. Was Ms. Angeline's position really that sought after?

"A toast!" Red proclaimed. "To our new boss."

Everyone, including you, stood along with her now, raising their glasses to meet hers hovering over the center of the table.

Everyone that is, except Vergil. He remained seated, silently watching all of this unfold. Or, that was what you initially thought, until you noticed that his eyes were fixed on Red. You initially suspected that he was taking a moment to check her out when he assumed that no one was watching, but instead, as you followed his gaze, you saw that it never left her face. Or, more specifically, her lips.

It appeared to you as though he were intently watching her lips move as she continued to prattle on about your upcoming pseudo promotion, as though he were reading them in an attempt to better comprehend her words over the din of the restaurant.

But why?

"Come on, Boss, you gotta join us! This is about you, after all."

Red's words finally drew you out of your thoughts and you lifted your glass of sparkling water, joining it with the others for a toast that you felt was hardly deserved. Everyone took a sip of their drink, then sat back down into their seats.

But, try as you might to relax back into a comfortable awkwardness, you couldn't shake what you had just seen. The same odd feeling came over you now that had been there when you'd first encountered Vergil by the coffee maker, vaguely uneasy, as though something were amiss that you couldn't quite put your finger on.

Then again, this could have very well been due to the fact that Red had just garnered the entire restaurant's attention on your behalf. Either way, you suddenly found yourself in need of some fresh air.

You excused yourself to the restroom, then took the opportunity to step out into the outdoor seating area.

The reaction to your upcoming promotion had caught you off guard quite a bit. You had no idea that anyone was paying you that much mind, but word did have a tendency to travel and Red was always the first one to alert everyone once it did. Perhaps this had been a good idea after all, to get to know your fellow coworkers a bit more, even if only on a surface level, before you would become the sole person they came to for instruction.

Your stomach twisted, forcing you to lean onto the nearby railing for support. It dawned on you that there was an even simpler explanation for your earlier feelings: the realization that your coworkers, who you had once considered your equals, would be leaning on you for guidance in addition to the general public was simply too much for you.

You regained your composure as best you could, then lifted yourself from the railing and turned to head back inside.

Or, you would have, if Vergil had not been blocking your path back to the door.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "You left so suddenly, and I feared you may have gotten ill."

"No, I think I'm good now," you said.

You gave him a smile that you were sure looked entirely fake. Why did he care, anyway?

"What happened back there was a bit uncalled for," he said. "Her putting you on the spot like that, I mean."

"Yeah, I guess it was," you said. "She knows I hate these things in the first place, so it seemed a little, I don't know, mean-spirited?"

Vergil tilted his head slightly to one side.

"Then, why did you come here?" he asked. "If you hate it so much. You could have turned her down."

"I know," you said. "I just thought it might be good to get to know everyone for once, network a little bit, or whatever."

He nodded.

"I see," he said.

"Why did  _ you _ come? I mean, no offense, but you don't really seem like the type to go to these group outings either."

"For much the same reason you did, I suppose," he said. "To get to know people."

"Oh," you said. "I kind of thought you were a friend of Red's, or something."

"The young lady with the red hair?" he asked, and you nodded. "No, I don't know her. In fact, I didn't even know her name until just now."

"Oh," you said again.

You were about to ask him why he had been staring at her so intensely earlier, but you were able to stop yourself before the words reached your lips. Looking back at it now, you were sure that you had been looking too much into it. He did have a rather intense stare, which he still wore now as the two of you spoke.

"This just isn't really my scene, you know?" you said. "But I thought I needed to step out of my comfort zone a little bit. Stagnation is the enemy of growth, as the office motto says." You chuckled, realizing how ridiculous what you just said had sounded. "It's stupid, I know."

"Office motto?"

Vergil cracked a small smile.

"Yeah," you said. "It's something Ms. Angeline has been drilling into my head since I first started. So, I guess you could say that that's the main reason why I'm here."

"It's not a bad message," he said. "And very versatile as well. I can see many potential applications."

You rolled your eyes.

"Don't you start too!" you said.

"Apologies," he said. "Don't let me keep you from your networking." 

"Yeah, I should probably get back now. I'm sure everyone is wondering where I am." 

He stepped aside to allow you to get inside the restaurant and you made your way back to your table. 

"There you are!" Red said. "I was starting to think you skipped out on us." 

"I couldn't do that," you said. "This is my celebration after all."

This got a chuckle out of everyone and you felt yourself relax a bit. 

"Wait til you guys try the food," Red said. "It is out of this world."

Your food was indeed pretty good once it finally arrived, in spite of being nothing more than a few specialized greens tossed with chicken and oil. You picked at the appetizers a bit, then paid your tab and left, to the protest of a few of the other people at the table. 

But by the time you had finished your dinner, you had had quite enough of the noisy atmosphere that was ever present, even as the evening dragged on and you would have expected people to begin clearing out. 

As you made your way home, in spite of your best attempts to drown them out with a bit of news radio, your thoughts continued to wander back to Vergil's odd behavior.

There was absolutely something up with him, no matter how hard you tried to brush it off. Now that you were further removed from the situation, you were certain that you hadn't been imagining it; it was becoming harder and harder to deny there was something strange about the way he had been acting tonight.

There was the incident with Red, yes, but it extended even further beyond that. Aside from the conversation the two of you had had outside, he hadn't spoken a single word to anyone since he'd arrived, instead opting to sit in silence as he finished off the glass of whiskey that seldom left his hand. 

Your heart sank as a possibility suddenly dawned on you. Was he a corporate plant, sent to observe your performance?

That had to be it. The timing and his behavior matched up a little too perfectly for you to write this off as mere speculation.

Even in the event that it weren't true, it couldn't hurt for you to assume that it was, and to make an attempt to be on your best behavior when he was around going forward.


End file.
